U.S. Geological Survey christens two new Great Lakes research vessels

Gus Chan, The Plain DealerAssistant Secretary of the Interior Anne Castle christens the Great Lakes research vessel Kaho during a ceremony at the Great Lakes Shipyard in Cleveland on Wednesday.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In the next few days, a new 70-foot research vessel will be keeping tabs on the health of Lake Erie's economically important fishery.

Officials on Wednesday christened two new ships commissioned by the United States Geological Survey. They were built under an $8.2 million contract by Great Lakes Shipyard in Cleveland and funded with federal stimulus dollars.

The research vessel Muskie replaces a 45-foot boat of the same name that sailed Lake Erie for the last 50 years. The second boat, called the Kaho, replaces a 65-footer on Lake Ontario.

The new aluminum boats are not only bigger than their predecessors, they are lighter, faster and more fuel-efficient. Decreased maintenance demands should allow the boats to spend more time on their lake and less time at docks being repaired, said Marcia McNutt, director of the USGS.

While the USGS' name suggests responsibilities focused more on land than water, the federal agency's Great Lakes Science Center (an entirely different entity than the Cleveland museum of the same name) is charged with monitoring the Great Lakes' $7 billion commercial and recreational fishing industry.

It's estimated that about half of that total can be attributed to Lake Erie alone.

"Protecting and sustaining this very valuable fishery is hugely important," Anne Castle, assistant secretary for water and science for the U.S. Department of Interior, said in a speech before the christening. "And to do that, we need the scientific research that the Great Lakes Science Center and our other partners provide."

The Muskie's crew will spend between 60 and 120 days a year on the water surveying fish populations, studying fish habitats and monitoring dangers posed by invasive species, toxic algae blooms and other environmental threats.

Because the new boats are lighter, they will be able to travel to shallow coastal areas where their heavier predecessors could not go, McNutt said. This will be important for researchers who are studying habitats where the voracious and much-feared Asian carp would likely feed should they make their way into Lake Erie.

Russell Strach, director of the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Great Lakes Science Center, said that if Asian carp were to invade Lake Erie, it's likely that a crew aboard the Muskie would be the first to detect their presence.

The USGS conducts much of its research on Lake Erie in partnership with the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York and the Canadian province of Ontario. For example, the USGS surveys the population of bait fish like smelt and alewife, information the states then use to determine catch limits for walleye and yellow perch.

Strach said monitoring the lake's fishery also provides opportunities for determining how to restore some of its native species, like white fish, which disappeared from the lake decades ago.